Coelacanth
Stalker
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2005
- Posts
- 2,167
- Location
- Alberta, Canada
- Avatar Name
- Coelacanth Coelacanth Maryka
Re: Misinterpretation of EntropiaLife Rankings
I'm posting this because it's evident many players use the EntropiaLife site to judge other players' abilities or dedication in-game solely by looking at a total loot amount or overall ranking...even veteran players who ought to know better often make illogical assumptions based on the info on that site...so I wanted to point out obvious flaws in this logic.
The ranking of hunters (for example) merely by summing up their "total" loot is in no way a true indication of a hunter's abilities or dedication. One player might get supremely lucky and HOF or even hit an ATH. In terms of loot, that puts that hunter near the top of the loot chart. Does this suddenly indicate that this player is a better hunter or even more committed than the player who grinds out thousands of puny creatures, hunting at their own level of proficiency, as it were? No! It just means the lucky avatar got a big loot, that's all. Luck (or lack thereof) will show a much stronger correlation with loot/rank than dedication or ability.
Furthermore, the rankings show absolutely no correlation between loot or rank and time played in-game or number of mob kills or amount of hunting done during the current time span. Take my own example (not that even that is very relevant, as most of my loot was acquired long before EntropiaLife was created); I supposedly have about 7000 PEDs of total loot, highest loot of 445 PED (my actual highest was around 900 from a JamRaider that left me a pile of oils/robot parts, followed by a 787-PED Atrax HOF, back in ancient Entropia memory). My rank (currently) is 831 of 3662. It's easy to conclude, therefore, that this doesn't seem indicative of a serious hunter.
Now let's dissect this example to demonstrate how flawed those assumptions can be.
1. Most players don't hunt mobs that drop big loots because they may lack the gear for that. They may also mostly hunt solo. This will absolutely affect their rank because total loot will be very low, compared to someone who tanks & grinds out big mobs. Does this mean that player doesn't hunt much? Hell no. That player could very well be hunting thousands of low- to medium-end mobs, even at a brisk killing spree pace, but because the loot will rarely be equivalent to that dropped by the big mobs, or they have bad luck, the resulting total loot rank will never be high.
2. Every year, players like me lose interest in the game and take a hiatus. Their overall rank drops to near the bottom of the list, as expected. Eventually, they may get interested again, login, and hunt like crazy for a few months. In my case, I shoot up the ranks at a rapid pace, going from the bottom to 831 of 3662, for example, in only a month or two. If one only looks at the overall picture however, it's a flawed conclusion that 831 is not a good rank or a dedicated hunter. If you take into account that a hunter might've reached that rank after only a month or two of hunting, that suddenly becomes a more impressive accomplishment.
A perfect personal example of this was a Christmas Merry Mayhem that I participated in about 3 or 4 years ago, I remember it was counting Atrox and Feff/Biff kills (I could be mistaken on the latter). I reached #55 or something in the list of thousands of hunters who participated, if I recall correctly (I don't have the results on my work computer but I saved the spreadsheet on my home PC, but it's not important in making this point). 55 might not seem impressive at all, to the veteran players with uber gear, or to those who rely on the EntropiaLife Bible-of-the-Universe. But factor in that I missed almost half of that event being out of town for Christmas vacation, and reached #55 with nothing but Ghost armor and a decidedly non-uber weapons kit including a Marber Bravo, MK4 and M2875, and that suddenly becomes a much more noteworthy result.
3. The EntropiaLife tracker clearly has missing info, and didn't track anything from years past. My aberration--the 900-PED JamRaider HOF--wasn't tracked by EntropiaLife for whatever reason. I clearly doubt the accuracy of the tool because of this reason; if it "missed" that HOF, how many others has it missed? And due to it being a relatively new tool (for us pre-Gold veterans, it's new), any player using this tool to "judge" or compare a player who pre-dated the tool is being foolish. The tool's data pool lacks older data, misses new data to some degree, and makes no correlations between loot/rank and any other variable.
That all being said, I *do* think the tool is fun to use, and *does* provide some intriguing, compelling, and even helpful information, and I thank the developer for coding it...the programming is amazing to me, and respect to you, my friend! But to all the players who use that tool to judge another player: don't be a fool. Take it with a big grain of salt. A player's rank solely based on loot received makes no correlations and really proves nothing at all--except that they were more fortunate than the names lower on the list. This is the only valid criterion measured by the tool.
I'm posting this because it's evident many players use the EntropiaLife site to judge other players' abilities or dedication in-game solely by looking at a total loot amount or overall ranking...even veteran players who ought to know better often make illogical assumptions based on the info on that site...so I wanted to point out obvious flaws in this logic.
The ranking of hunters (for example) merely by summing up their "total" loot is in no way a true indication of a hunter's abilities or dedication. One player might get supremely lucky and HOF or even hit an ATH. In terms of loot, that puts that hunter near the top of the loot chart. Does this suddenly indicate that this player is a better hunter or even more committed than the player who grinds out thousands of puny creatures, hunting at their own level of proficiency, as it were? No! It just means the lucky avatar got a big loot, that's all. Luck (or lack thereof) will show a much stronger correlation with loot/rank than dedication or ability.
Furthermore, the rankings show absolutely no correlation between loot or rank and time played in-game or number of mob kills or amount of hunting done during the current time span. Take my own example (not that even that is very relevant, as most of my loot was acquired long before EntropiaLife was created); I supposedly have about 7000 PEDs of total loot, highest loot of 445 PED (my actual highest was around 900 from a JamRaider that left me a pile of oils/robot parts, followed by a 787-PED Atrax HOF, back in ancient Entropia memory). My rank (currently) is 831 of 3662. It's easy to conclude, therefore, that this doesn't seem indicative of a serious hunter.
Now let's dissect this example to demonstrate how flawed those assumptions can be.
1. Most players don't hunt mobs that drop big loots because they may lack the gear for that. They may also mostly hunt solo. This will absolutely affect their rank because total loot will be very low, compared to someone who tanks & grinds out big mobs. Does this mean that player doesn't hunt much? Hell no. That player could very well be hunting thousands of low- to medium-end mobs, even at a brisk killing spree pace, but because the loot will rarely be equivalent to that dropped by the big mobs, or they have bad luck, the resulting total loot rank will never be high.
2. Every year, players like me lose interest in the game and take a hiatus. Their overall rank drops to near the bottom of the list, as expected. Eventually, they may get interested again, login, and hunt like crazy for a few months. In my case, I shoot up the ranks at a rapid pace, going from the bottom to 831 of 3662, for example, in only a month or two. If one only looks at the overall picture however, it's a flawed conclusion that 831 is not a good rank or a dedicated hunter. If you take into account that a hunter might've reached that rank after only a month or two of hunting, that suddenly becomes a more impressive accomplishment.
A perfect personal example of this was a Christmas Merry Mayhem that I participated in about 3 or 4 years ago, I remember it was counting Atrox and Feff/Biff kills (I could be mistaken on the latter). I reached #55 or something in the list of thousands of hunters who participated, if I recall correctly (I don't have the results on my work computer but I saved the spreadsheet on my home PC, but it's not important in making this point). 55 might not seem impressive at all, to the veteran players with uber gear, or to those who rely on the EntropiaLife Bible-of-the-Universe. But factor in that I missed almost half of that event being out of town for Christmas vacation, and reached #55 with nothing but Ghost armor and a decidedly non-uber weapons kit including a Marber Bravo, MK4 and M2875, and that suddenly becomes a much more noteworthy result.
3. The EntropiaLife tracker clearly has missing info, and didn't track anything from years past. My aberration--the 900-PED JamRaider HOF--wasn't tracked by EntropiaLife for whatever reason. I clearly doubt the accuracy of the tool because of this reason; if it "missed" that HOF, how many others has it missed? And due to it being a relatively new tool (for us pre-Gold veterans, it's new), any player using this tool to "judge" or compare a player who pre-dated the tool is being foolish. The tool's data pool lacks older data, misses new data to some degree, and makes no correlations between loot/rank and any other variable.
That all being said, I *do* think the tool is fun to use, and *does* provide some intriguing, compelling, and even helpful information, and I thank the developer for coding it...the programming is amazing to me, and respect to you, my friend! But to all the players who use that tool to judge another player: don't be a fool. Take it with a big grain of salt. A player's rank solely based on loot received makes no correlations and really proves nothing at all--except that they were more fortunate than the names lower on the list. This is the only valid criterion measured by the tool.